Watford and Three Rivers Refugee Partnership

Misleading public statements!

Our political climate has allowed inaccurate statements to be broadcast with often partisan sources rushing to push their own agendas. Some statements have had a profound political impact, shaping campaigns and influencing votes.Here are just a few examples of false or misleading statements to hit the headlines in recent years*

Refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country they reachTeresa May (ITV news, 19 Sept 2016)

There is nothing in international law to say that refugees must claim asylum in the first country they reach. European regulation allows a country such as the UK to return an adult asylum seeker to the first European country they reached.

Asylum seekers are not allowed to work or claim benefits. They can only receive £36.95 a week in the form of a subsistence allowance. In other European countries, they are encouraged to work and pay taxes, thus being net contributors to the country while their asylum cases are assessed.

Illegal / bogus asylum seekers is a wrong definition as seeking asylum is not illegal in the UK, there cannot be illegal asylum seekers. 60% of asylum cases are granted in this country, many do not stay the course of the complex legal processes often taking many years.

*Extracted from a leaflet produced by Bedfordshire Refugee & Asylum Seeker Support (BRASS) for Refugee Week 18th – 24th June 2018.